Blu-ray players are incompatible

BLU-RAY DISCS of 100GB or 200GB are incompatible with available players, according to The Blu-ray Disc Association.

So although producers like Sharp or TDK have announced multi-layer high-capacity media that can store hundreds of gigabytes of data, users will be unable to play them. This is because current players cannot handle more than 50GB.

"Player manufacturers design players to meet published specifications that define maximum media capacity, which in the case of Blu-ray Disc, is 50GB on two-layer media," said Andy Parsons, SVP of corporate communications and new product planning for Pioneer and the chairman of BDA's promotion committee in the US, in an interview with Home Media Magazine.

I'm pretty sure the PS3 can have its firmware updated to accept these new discs.

And even so...50 GB is a lot. Stop pretending that we're "stuck" with ONLY 50 GB. Gimme a break. It's not like we didn't have the same problem with early-generation DVD players being unable to play dual-layer discs.

Sorry, but even at 50 gig, the current BD and BD players trump DVD... Too bad MS did not go all in and truly support that HD-DVD format. If they did, it might have actually had a chance of winning. Good for Sony that MS is run by idiots.

it takes more than just a fw to make things work. Could be the quality of other parts inside that hinders their ability to read through more than the current layers.

In any case I would expect those that are capable of updating to work as best they can. Others like the low end brands maybe not so much.

Has there been a change in the BD unit in the slim as opposed to the original fat ps3? I know there have been different revisions to the 360 dvd drive (diff mfgs too). What about the ps3? What if...this is just a "what if"...the slim has the better drive capable of reading these bigger discs but the first gen ps3 drive can't?

Not that it would really be an issue to sony seeing as the slim is likely to surpass the original fat sales. Therefor they would only need to address the issue if it arises.

Wow...how did you turn this into an opportunity to bash Microsoft? Ask yourself...why should Microsoft have supported HD DVD fully...which could have led to their system getting pushed back and not having the luxury of its one year head start. Think about it...if RROD was/is such an issue, what would it have been like with the unproven hd dvd drive included. Ohhh, and how are you defining "chance of winning"....there are several arenas in which Microsoft can win and is winning.

With that said, I am just ready for blurays that contain a complete series.

Personally, I preferred the HD-DVD spec (a completed one at that) that mandated all players have network capability and no region. The storage space is a non-issue, compared to the early adopters that got screwed because their players don't support the "real" blu-ray specs.

It's ... a b1tch?.... to hope for a single, unified format so that the home movie industry survives? So I only need one type of player to play my movies? So that I can have the best quality currently available?

Wow... this idiot even turns movie formats into a console war/fanboy war. Only on N4G.

You guys do realize that this is only really important to those of us with blu-ray BURNERS right?

Blu-ray movies will not exceed the 50Gb standard so mainstream user will not be affected by this. This information is only important for people who buy blank blu-ray media and want to store tons of information on disc. It will only affect PS3 owners if those PS3 owner happen to purchase a blu-ray disc burner capable of burning a 100-200Gb bluray disc. Other than that this has no effect on us PS3 owner yet.

Reading this article on another site, it is said that the problem lies with the blue lasers, not firmware. If that is so, that means that EVERY blu-ray player will need to be upgraded to handle above 50GB, including the PS3.

Movie discs won't use more than the standard 50GB dual layers discs. There's no need for the update. You can put 4 HD movies on a single 50GB disc, and yet they put out movie compilations with each movie on its own disc.

Okay some might say PS3 might not be capable im not sure if it is or not But wasn't the PS3 intended origanlly to only use single layer BD? im not sure so please correct me if im wrong, but wasn't a 50GB dual layer then later revealed? or did they always have them

Every PS3 and Blu-ray player had the capacity to read dual layers since the beginning.

Now with triple and quadruple layers means that the players will need a more intensified laser to read the thicker coat of the discs, and this is not something that you could simply fix with a FW update because the problem is with the hardware, not the software.

There are 2 ways to fix this issue:

#1 Start making new players and early adopters are going to be screwed or

#2 Find another way to make the other layers on the disc visible to the laser. If there have been people that have made a 10 layers DVD work in a normal DVD player then why the F!$# this other people that are investing so much into blu-ray technology can't?

* BTW There are tons of articles in N4G talking about this 10 layer DVD disc that work on any DVD player.

you are wrong with the more "intense laser" to read through the "thicker coat". DVD as well as BluRay laser diodes read the different layers by refocusing the laser, not by a stronger laser to read those layers. As long as a player can be updated via firmware, the focal length mechanism can be programmed to accommodate for the additional layers depth of fields. Think of the laser as a photography camera lens, refocusing to read/see the data.

"focal length mechanism can be programmed" as long as this is defined in the original lens specs. If its a part defined for what was need to read 2 layers, no matter what SW you write, you won't be able to change that focus, no ?

mmmm, okay, I'm not a guru about this matter but why people took my sixth bubble? The disagree button is there for some reason, you take bubbles from fanboys/spammer/etc I'm not saying anything that would merit a bubble loss.

1. Blu Ray drives for PC are still expensive and external drives exist so it's not like people are going to burn a bunch of their PC's content to a 100gb BD disc.

2. Where can you even buy a 200gb disc and what would be on it? The only feasible thing is multiple films from one director/actor or multiple seasons from a show. By the time we need the 100gb discs, there will be new BD players that will be able to support them. Right now movies are fine with the discs that are out. These 200gb discs feel like overkill just to show off how good the technology is. That's great but I don't really see the use for it right now, maybe in 10 years.

One things for sure though, I think next-gen Sony won't change their consoles drive so we'll be able to use Blu Ray again which is great for larger, better games, without the constraints of DVD.

"These 200gb discs feel like overkill just to show off how good the technology is. That's great but I don't really see the use for it right now, maybe in 10 years."

In response to the above statement, I think that is the whole point of technology (moving forward) if we didn't come up with new tech than we would still be living in the stone age. So, no it isn't overkill it's technological advancement for the betterment of mankind =). Also, I like to add that I agree with it not being used now maybe in 7+ years considering how fast we move forward. I don't even want to imagine all the development time that will go into making a game when they do come to the mainstream one day!

Wouldn't having all that memory on the disc read slower then a normal Blu Ray disc? It's like those articles where they can get like 500 gb DVD's but you would need a new player for a faster laser to read it.

Then again isn't a BD the same as a DVD? Only difference is a protective coating and more memory? You get all the extra high quality because of all of the data that is uncompressed.

....please stop saying MEMORY. Why you ask? Well, memory is different from storage space. The amount of gigs on a disk IS NOT MEMORY, it is just storage. That is like saying you have a hard drive with 1 tb of memory, ITS STORAGE SPACE, NOT MEMORY that is being talked about.

Once again, sorry for being an azz but stuff like this just bugs the crap out of me.

Sigh.. I think were really pushing the limit too far with disc's. At such a capacity, scratch's, dust, grime is going to have a major impact on the data of the disc. There's a reason hard drives are in a vacuum sealed chamber.

Bluray is an ideal optical medium for large capacity archives. It is VERY difficult to scratch these disks with normal usage. I cannot see it replacing tape drives, but for some small businesses that cannot afford robotic arm tape drives, this can be a much better alternative than VCR taping. You could see Bluray recorders being used on 007 movie when he was looking through security footage. Seemed like a decent application of the tech.

Rofl, robotic arm tape drives. How about just using hard drives if you run a business.

All I was saying is that were really pushing the limit of disc's. Well have to move to solid state storage once fabrication process's are small enough to make it economically viable. Probably around the time we reach 16nm or 11nm fab.

And the disc's are actually very easy to scratch. Not huge scratch's of course, but thin scratches are very easy to make. And they start to build up over time. Dirt and grime isn't as big of a problem since a disc can be cleaned. You have to get a disc shaved down to fix scratches properly.

Firmware updates can upgrade the read capability of Bluray players. Also, this media is probably geared/meant more for Bluray Burners in PCs for larger storage capacity, mainly archiving many larger files like security videos and databases. I doubt that the PS3 or any other standard market Bluray player will need to read a disc over 100GB. It doesn't make sense for movie production houses to press out a television series on a 200GB disc, when splitting it up on four 50GB discs or two 100GB discs would be cheaper and cause less compatibility issues.

200GB Bluray media will have data burnt on it more than likely meant to be read by the same devices that did the burning... so there would be no compatibility problems.

There is a chance that home devices can read these discs via an upgrade, but it may not even be necessary. Oh but wait, let's try a single layered 25gb Bluray in a 360 and see what happens, oh my bad, we are stuck with a measley 9GB DVD.

So lets break it down... Too bad none of the readers can read 200gb discs out of the box, oh what will we ever do about it. I know lets split up the data on several discs like the 360 does by default!

Now I don't own a PS3 or a 360, but I do know how optical drives work. To achieve these higher capacities, you can't simply do a firmware update. You need to physically adjust the POT near the laser diode to achieve a more detailed read.

This very issue was proven that it could be done back in the DVD days... still current day to 360ers. It is known that you CAN even reflash a DVD drive to follow instructions different than its original spec.

Here is a link to an example of how FLASHING the chip on a DVD drive EXPANDED its read AND WRITE capabilities. I remember this one specifically, it was used to flash a Sony Single Layered DVD burner to perform as a new Dual Layered DVD burner.

This is simply to PROVE it can be done WITHOUT the introduction of new hardware or opening it up to do manual potentiometer/resistor adjusts. If a newer laser diode is not required for the 200gb discs to be read, and if the chip has enough room, and the hardware support team can do it without too much expense thrown at the effort... it CAN be done. I am just saying it may be possible, at least on some models.

Basic G Routers aren't supposed to be able to do advanced network functions either, but... I flash stupid little limited G routers all the time to perform as expensive repeaters. G Router cost $30... a decent basic repeater is about $120. If you flash the router correctly, it can be turned into a repeater without any hardware mods(you can even over clock them, not recommended though).

@Reburn, too bad I know what I am talking about. LOL @ disagrees above, when everything in my post is fact. Get angry at the information, not at me, I did not make it so.

It is a shame that people still HATE on technology that is here for their benefit. I guess some folks are butt sore after buying those HDDVD drives. N4G is the only site where you lose bubbles for telling the truth.

If you really look at the situating Sony PS3 is a buy cause you have a Blu-ray player and blu-ray discs can hold 50GB of data for your buck.

Now Micro$oft RROD Xbot is incompatible with Blu-ray disc, it can over heat at anytime and it can only use DVDs that can hold 9GB of data so people do you want the upgradable PS3 or a Xbot that can one day in the future when the warranty expired's go RROD on you, you decide.

It isn't always just the movie, though. Special features and interactive content also take up space. I have several BD movies that have come on multiple discs, one for the movie and one for the special features. So in some cases capacity is already an issue depending on the content that the studios wish to release.

Since there are so many Blu ray players out there, the genie is out of the bottle so to speak. I don't think published media, such as games or movies are going to move up to the larger capacity discs. It would be a real disaster to try to get people to upgrade hardware again. I'm sure future players will be able to handle all discs, but I seriously doubt the standards that publishers use is going to change.